If you ain't got that do-re-mi

Woody Guthrie's words are as true today as when he wrote them 60 years ago. If you are poor and live in a conservative state like Texas, the government is not going to do much to help you out. And, if you are a minority, you are completely out of luck. That's one of the reasons more than 6.1 million Texas residents -- a number greater than the population of 33 other states -- don't have health insurance. They simply can't afford it.

So, you would think, that Texas government officials would welcome federal laws making insurance possible for these people. And, if you did think this way, you would be wrong. Here's why:

Most of those poor Texans who can't afford health insurance would be eligible for Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor, and the new health law will vastly expand eligibility by offering coverage to childless adults. The problem is Texas, because of its damn-the-poor conservative politics, traditionally has set among the country’s most restrictive Medicaid eligibility thresholds. This has limited its Medicaid rolls, as have burdensome application requirements, outmoded computers, inadequate staffing and difficulties in signing up children born to illegal immigrants. Among the reasons the law could be expensive for Texas is the state’s past failure to enroll many of those already eligible for Medicaid. Going forward, Washington will pay a much smaller share of the cost for those recipients than for those who gain coverage because of expanded eligibility. But, of course, Gov. Hair and the rest of the state's Republican leadership are now blaming Washington for Texas' failures.

Of course, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's numbers are inflated, but he has to lie to make it sound more alarming. His estimate, for instance, doesn't include the first four years of the new health care law when the state's contribution to Medicaid expenses will be negligible. But Texas political leaders have never let the truth stand in the way of their demagoguery. For example, Gov. Hair said last April that Texas would not establish the temporary high-risk insurance pool required by the law, leaving that task to the federal government. “You can’t run around saying the federal government wants to take over Texas, but then when we have an opportunity to do it ourselves leave it to the federal government,” said State Representative Garnet F. Coleman, just one Democrat pointing out the inconsistencies in Hair's philosophies.

So when you read about folks like the lieutenant governor going before his rich Republican backers crying that the new health care law will bankrupt the state, just remember none of this would have happened if Texas had just done the right thing in the first place.